In general, the present invention relates to a data communication apparatus, a data communication method, a data communication system, an information-processing apparatus, an information-processing method, recording mediums and programs. More particularly, the present invention relates to a data communication apparatus, a data communication method, a data communication system, an information-processing apparatus and an information-processing method, which are appropriate for use in communication of data through an information recording medium having a large storage capacity and through a network, relates to programs for implementing the data communication method and the information-processing method and relates to recording mediums for storing the programs.
When AV data is communicated among client personal computers 4 through a large-capacity information recording medium such as RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) 1 and through a network 3 such as the Internet and an intranet as shown in FIG. 1, there is conceived the use of a system employing a server personal computer 2 for controlling accesses to the RAID 1 and processing requests for an access to the RAID 1, which are made by the client personal computers 4.
The RAID 1 for storing AV data is connected to the network 3 through the personal computer (PC) 2. Connected to the network 3, a personal computer 4 is capable of making a request for an access to the RAID 1.
The personal computer 2 processes accesses to the RAID 1 and transfers of data through the network 3. To put it concretely, when the personal computer 4 makes a request for a transfer of AV data stored in the RAID 1 by way of the network 3, the personal computer 2 accepts the request, subsequently makes an access to the RAID 1 to acquire the requested AV data and temporarily stores the data in a memory embedded in the personal computer 2 before transferring the data to the personal computer 4 by way of the network 3.
As described above, the personal computer 2 processes accesses to the RAID 1 and transfers of data through the network 3. Thus, when requests for such an access are made by a plurality of personal computers 4 through the network 3 at the same time, it is necessary for the personal computer 2 to process the accesses to the RAID 1 and a plurality of data transfers by way of the network 3 concurrently. However, the personal computer 2 is not capable of processing both the accesses and the data transfers at the same time. As a result, there is a limit on the number of accesses that can be handled and there is thus raised a problem of a reduced processing speed.